Intelivote was selected by almost half of the 97 Ontario municipalities using electronic voting (Internet and phone) in the 2014 Ontario Municipal Elections resulting in over 909,000 votes being securely cast. Today Intelivote released a brief analysis of the voting methods revealing interesting trends on methods and channels used.

Intelivote Systems, Canada’s leading supplier of online (Internet and phone) eVoting services for government, unions, organizations, First Nations and political leadership elections, has successfully delivered voting services and election results to 48 Ontario Municipal governments electing their Mayors, Councillors, and School Board Trustees. Analysing these elections which included the use of Internet voting, telephone voting and in some cases the integration of these methods with traditional paper ballot voting continues to reveal interesting trends in eVoting.

“All the secure electronic voting results were available to the election officials 15 minutes after the last voter completed their voting, after the close of the polls at 8:00 PM,” says Dean Smith, President and Founder of Intelivote Systems. Smith also commented on the growth of Internet and phone voting in Canada, noting that the number of municipalities in Ontario using electronic voting has more than doubled from 44 to 97 since the last round of municipal elections in 2010.

Intelivote’s analysis of the methods used by voters using their system to cast their ballot indicated some interesting changes over the past four years. An increasing number of voters switched from Internet connected PCs and laptops (99.6% in 2010) to accessing the voting system using tablets, iPods, gaming systems or smart phones which now account for over 15% of voter connectivity.

While casting a ballot over the Internet was the preferred method for 79% of those casting an electronic ballot in an all-electronic election, 21% opted for the convenience of phone voting.

Voters aged 60 and older continue to be the most active participants in elections and in the elections Intelivote conducted, had participation rates almost 15% higher than their younger cohorts aged 18 to 59.

“We continue to see significant growth in the municipal government voting market here in Canada”, says Smith, “and issues like voting method convenience for busy eligible voters and travelers, accessibility for disabled or infirmed voters, and election cost reduction and increased voter participation, are all aspects of the election process our various clients have seen impacted.”

While Intelivote conducted elections for many returning clients, 29 municipalities selected Intelivote for their first ever electronic election, because of Intelivote’s subject matter expertise and structured process in successfully conducting these types of elections. Included in the group of first time users was the Town of Ajax with an eligible voting population of approximately 75,600 voters.

“We issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) with several companies replying, and during this process it became clear to us that Intelivote has a level of knowledge and expertise that clearly placed them in a leadership position in this industry”, said Nicole Wellsbury, Ajax’s Manager of Legislative Services/Deputy Clerk. “They worked with us through the entire election process and their understanding of how voters use eVoting technology and what election officials require to support this type of process proved invaluable.”

Ajax enjoyed a 20% increase in voter turnout with 92% of the voters using the web and 8% opting to cast their ballot by phone. Smith noted that more metropolitan municipalities tend to have a higher web to phone voting ratios as well.

About Intelivote Systems Inc.

Founded in 2003, and based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Intelivote is one of the world’s most experienced, and Canada’s leading supplier, of eVoting election services specializing in the seamless integration of traditional polling station voting with an electronic voting solution which includes secure telephone, wireless and Internet voting. Intelivote provides industry leading subject matter expertise, integrated support modules, and operational excellence on all aspects of electronic voting including security, voter assistance, event auditing, voter communication, and election officials’ support.

Intelivote has a head office in Nova Scotia, and strategic offices in Alberta and New Brunswick, Canada.